The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-10-12
POPULAR SCIENCE.

A photographer, connected with the
United States Signal Corps, had obtained
photograph of sunrise from the sum-
NIT of Fixes Peak.
A French horticulturist, Count de
Buysson, ensures the growth of seeds so
old as to have a doubtful terminating
power by soaking them for thirty
hours in water containing little guano
or other source of nitrogen. ~.
An increase in the demand for mica has
resulted from its use for electrical pur-
poses and special machinery has been de-
vised for getting out the mineral. Elec-
tricians usually select the whitest kinds,
some colored micas baving so much iron
that their insulating property is affected.
An Oxford meteorologist seeks to
prove that the European and American
magnetic poles are coincident with the
centres of greatest cold for the two con-
tinents, and that the shiftings of the
magnetic poles is due to the same series
of astronomical and geological causes
which produce the secular changes IN
climate.
rrospectors are roaming about the
mountain country of Tennessee, through
which railroads are to pass, seeking ore
beds, which can now be bought for mere
ly nominal prices. Rich lead and silver
ore have been found in several localities.
In one immense cave in Putnam County
five distinct veins of lead, all valuable,
have been found.
An English observer recommends the
locomotive as a cheap hygrometer for
farmers and others living near railroads.
When the escaping steam remains long
suspended the air is near its point OF
saturation with moisture. but when the
steam quickly disappears, as if swallowed
up, the weather is dry and there is little
prospect of rain.
A scientific journal. in an attempt to
prove that mankind could not exert me-
chanical force enough of their own to-
produce the amount of heat needed to
raise the crops necessary daily to feed
themselves, States that 'sthe mechanical
equivalent of the vertical sunshine re-
ceiyed upon square mile of the earth's
service is computed to be 8, 1923, 600, 600
pounds raised foot high in second.
Mr.. Ernest Hart, of the Smoke Abatc-
ment Institute, fears that London will
always suffer from fogs, because it is
placed in river valley, on clay soil
and is bordered on the Essex side by
low-lying lands very imperfectly drained,
and on the north side by the Harrow
Weald. The fogs generated, the results!
of damp exhalations, are greatly aggra-
vated by the parks, most of which re.
uuire draining. But if the smoke is got
rid of the fogs will be much less dense.
The latest theory Of the mode of forma.
ton of ozone in the atmosphere is that OF
G. Wurster, whose observations have led
him to conclude that it is formed by the
action of clouds. He states that when
clouds are continually formed from above
they become highly charged with this &C.
tive form of oxygen, whilst those formed
from below only contain it in notable
quantity in their upper layer. This
theory has no advantage over many
Others, it admits of confirmation or ref;
utation both by observation and expert
ment. Artificial clouds are easily formed,
may be confined in glass vessels, and
there exposed to sunlight. Ordinary
oxonomcter paper contained in the same
vessel will at once display the formation
of ozone if it actually occurs.